UPDATE: Garth Brooks has since admitted he was lip syncing at the 2017 CMA Awards.

Backstage he told reporters, “We made a game time call on whether to sing to a track or lip sync. And we decided to lip sync it. We decided to lip-sync it because my voice was just not there, and we wanted to represent country music the best we can.”

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From a commercial standpoint, there has never been a bigger artist in the history of country music than Garth Brooks. And in country music, there is no bigger honor than the CMA’s Entertainer of the Year. Though Garth’s post-retirement run has been choppy when it comes to sales and chart performance, he’s clearly the king of the road and the live performance, raking in oodles of cash as he’s criss crossed the country and world over the last three years, sometimes selling out four or five consecutive shows in the same arena as throngs flock to see him. And that’s the reason he walked away with the 2017 Entertainer of the Year award from the CMA, which has basically become a touring accolade in the last few years.

But what an embarrassing moment for the CMAs, country music, and Garth, since he was so very clearly lip syncing his performance Wednesday night (11-8). Social media exploded, especially after a moment where Garth was clearly facing away from the mic, but the lyrics kept rolling. Sometimes a lip sync can be hard to spy, but Garth made it pretty damn easy, and a slam dunk case. Garth was performing his current single “Ask Me How I Know.”

Furthermore, we know Garth is willing to lip sync. In April of 2015 ahead of the 50th Annual ACM awards, Garth spilled the beans that he would be willing to mime to a backing track if he felt that would be best.

“Just in case we have to lip-sync, we taped a performance that was solely made for the awards show,” Garth revealed on a SiriusXM The Highway Town Hall. “So we don’t know if we’re lip-syncing or not, but my bet is, if I know Portland, we’re not going to get out of here with anything. And then you’ve got to fly down and do that show immediately. So we’ll see how that’s going to go.”

This was after the year previous, Rascal Flatts stirred controversy by blowing a lip sync performance at the ACMs. It didn’t appear that Garth lip synced his 2015 ACM performance.

Nobody should be shocked that lip syncing occurs on awards shows, or country award shows specifically. But it is a shame that it had to happen when Garth received the biggest distinction of the night, and after Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, and others turned in such stellar live performances. Country music has always been about authenticity, and this wasn’t Garth’s best moment.

Agreed. Lots of things can determine how well your voice is going to sound — how much you’ve been singingly lately, age and how long you’ve been singing, cold weather, if you have a cold, etc… Artists do lip sync. It happens. I was just happy to see Garth.

Chris Gaines. Gonna retire to spend time with my family (then divorce my wife and a year to the day later marry Mrs. Yearwood.” Constantly refer to himself in the third person (“we”). Ghost tunes. New York Mets career. But hey, make sure you all go out and buy the first five years of his anthology this season. After all, it is that time of year again. First five years…wouldn’t that cover about all his singles anyway? Shoulda just got the McDonalds album from 1995…literally has all the songs. All ten. How can he win eoty when he can’t even get a song on the radio? Or people to buy his album?
It’s whatever, I just hate that for one night we couldn’t give more attention to the real deal: a guy that we won’t see for 20-25 years in Alan Jackson.

Agree. And let’s not forget that he went into retirement for x amount of time because his first wife was to get a percentage from his earnings for a certain period of time. After x amount of time was up. He starting touring again. Don’t know why people are so crazy about this fake.

It is sad to see Garth do this. I hope this doesn’t distract from the positives of this CMA’s. Miranda and Carrie gave performances of a lifetime. Stapleton dominated, yet again. Brothers Osborne and Jon Pardi both perform and win. Alan Jackson closed with two of his classic hits. Sam Hunt was shut-out after the biggest hit of his career and a record-breaking single.

Me and you felt the exact same way Trig when Garth won Entertainer of The Year again. And its aside from this embarassment here, yet somehow not surprising for Garth. It was just kind of like, another thank you to Garth for his contributions in his career, him getting some more hardware to collect dust, and him just sort of being a passable placeholder. It really felt like they could have finally made it a special moment and gave it to Eric Church.

i’m grew up in the same town as Garth and i can honestly say that he and his career has a lot to do with what is happening to our music. He IS a poser. Still, some wonderful awards were given to deserving artists tonite. nice to see THAT…MORE than nice.

Trig I know this is news, so you’re writing about it… but did you catch Garth’s comments afterwards to reporters about Miranda? Said she was fighting the good fight and even threw in a stab at the “few females we play”, his few sentences said quite a bit quickly. That is what should be noted from Garth tonite. As usual, Garth immediately owned up to his syncing, just as you would expect a class act to do. Like someone else said, was a non-story. Garth can do whatever he wants, he’s Garth Brooks. Not to mention he just came off 5 shows Sunday and heading into 7 shows starting Thursday. For anyone who has seen him live, there is no better concert you could attend. He leaves it all on the stage.

Look, good on Garth for owning up to lip syncing. Good on him for sticking up for women in country. But this is not a “non story.” In fact the fact that he fessed up to it almost makes it imperative that the media report on it. I understand there are a lot of Garth fans here and I am not trying to get them to question their fanhood. There were THOUSANDS of people who took to the internet last night to find out if Garth had been lip syncing or not, and they deserved an answer. Garth gave it, explained why he chose to do so, and it’s time to move on. But it’s not in any way unfair or out-of-bounds to report on it.

Thanks for your reply. I don’t think it’s unfair to report on the moment either, that’s why I started my comment the way I did. SCM is a media outlet and I understand completely that aspect of it. However, my point was that the better headline should have been Garth’s dogged support of country music and songwriters. I caught a comment he just made on his Monday Facebook live show: “…at a time when songwriters finish last.” Throw in his Miranda comments about the current state of women in country and I just think you have a ready-made SCM story… hits all the right notes for folks around these parts. I think that story better serves country music than does a story about an Entertainer trying to rest his voice in between two major runs of shows so he can deliver at his shows where it really counts. I would rather see a performer sync an awards show and save it for their fans, and that goes for any star.

Honestly, with the CMAs, Sturgill Simpson’s thing, and everything else going on, I didn’t see Garth’s full comments until this morning. I only saw his comments on the lip syncing stuff last night because other outlets were reporting on them as well. If I had the full comments, I could have put them in a better context, but I’m not sure the headline changes, or perhaps the comments on women deserve their own article, as does the lip syncing.

He had to own it since he did a shitty job trying to pass it off as authentic…….. ole alan Jackson from the same era and he has still got the pipes Hank jr can boom a arena without amplification all garth has got his marketing degree being able to cry anytime and excuses hes very sub-par like Waylon used to say hes got a lot out of nothing!!!

Was a Garth fans growing up. So much of a fan that i dressed like him for school picture day (not my best choices of clothing). From “Garth Brooks” to “Sevens“ I think he put out a stretch of solid albums. After “Sevens” I think he started trying to change himself to what he thought would keep him relevant. And as a fan from the beginning I just haven’t dug anything from “Scarecrow“ on.

I will pick up the Anthology if its filled with demos & rare tracks as its been advertised and not just another rehash. Because that’s my favorite time as a Garth Brooks fan.

And for the record Eric Church deserved entertainer of the year.

And Trig thank you for turning me on to folks like Sturgill, Cody, Eady, Boland and Turnpike. Those are some of my favorites right now and would not have found them without your page.

ShadeGrown…are you deaf?
More Than A Memory….Shameless….Burning Bridges…In Another’s Eyes…If Tomorrow Never Comes…
I could go on and on and on and on with this man’s vocal performances.
Even the Chris Gaines album he made (which the rest of the world pissed on), is filled with amazing performances…Lost In You, That’s The Way I Remember It, Driftin’ Away, Main St…
One of the greatest country singers that ever lived. His impact on country music is undeniable.
He has sold more records in the U.S. than anyone who has ever lived other than The Beatles.
I guess a few people like the way his voice sounds.

As for the lip synching bullshit…who cares?
The guy does two shows a day sometimes on this tour for Christ’s sake.
He gave a perfectly logical explanation for his actions.
Who cares?

I’m with you on the Chris Gaines thing Willie .So that makes two people in total , I think.
Loved the songwriting on that record …and the production for that matter. Funny how that whole record actually sounds way more country than ‘country music’ right now .

I actually detest the whole “G” personna of the man …..DETEST it . But he could be a great guy when he’s NOT ‘G” ….I dunno .”G” is just so phoney and transparent and ‘correct’ all the time …..I’m sure he delivers a GREAT show and I’m sure he loves performing and touring and being on stage ….attention ….fame …adulation . Who wouldn’t . But I’d be fine if he never spoke again …..Sorry …

I’m a big Garth fan and had to chime in when I saw the Chris Gaines comments. I still listen to that album. Totally agree. Good songs and production. I don’t think the music matched what the Gaines character was supposed to be but Garth sang the hell out of those songs. I’m sick of people saying he helped ruin country music. He brought so many new fans to country (I’m one of them). He is one of the best live performers I’ve ever seen. This lip syncing was unfortunate but it’s not a huge deal to me. I do think Eric Church should’ve won EOY. I didn’t see this tour but he deserves credit for doing 3 hour shows.

I like Garth music but not his shows. They sell out quickly. If you work, you can’t call in timely. When you do get a ticket, you can’t see him because there isn’t enough seating. You could end up behind the stage. I own every cd he ever made…I’ll just listen to them. He is an awesome singer.

Can’t believe the folks saying Garth was never a good singer. His voice is (or at least was) phenomenal. He’s also a tremendous entertainer on stage and great at marketing himself.
If you want to find things to criticize, I’d question his songwriting ability and his helpless addiction to the spotlight. What frustrates me most about him is he could have been an on-stage vehicle for a lot of the greatest songs in country music history, but instead he went all prima donna trend chaser on us.

I’m tired of hearing oh I did 12 shows in 10 days my voice well dumbass your in your late 50s don’t do that many shows in that amount of time scale back and do what you can handle to do and not roach your voice out……. he knew he was gonna be preforming on the cmas so why did he put himself in that situation must be greed.

Totally off topic, but how many award shows does Jon Pardi have to do where he just sings “Dirt On My Boots” for a minute and a half on a small cylinder stage in the middle of the crowd before they put him on the bigger stage where he truly belongs? I call shenanigans.